dvdjoy

The $150 LiteOn LVD-2001 is excellent! It can upscale DVDs to 1080i via component outputs (if you have an HDTV). The PAL to NTSC conversion is very smooth (just like the Malata) via 480i or 480p outputs, but a little jittery via 1080i. The 1080i playback of NTSC DVDs is first-rate though. The region-hack is very simple. Have a look here for good information.

I have/had the Malata N996, Apex AD600, a Daewoo (forgot model #), Apex AD703, Apex AD1500, a region-modded Panny RP91, & a region-modded RP82 ... the LiteOn is easily the best regionfree DVD player so far IMHO.

mrwilson

No point in doing 1080i, will it do 720p?

TaeKwon

I just rec'd my Philips 727 and have encountered a problem with the Zoom feature... similar issue expressed by people using the multiple angle feature. Is there any way to turn off the "zoom" Icon? It is annoying to have watch thru the entire movie! Any suggestions would be appreciated. BTW, I purchased my unit from Goodguys.com for $79.99 free shipping, no tax.

DVDude!

As far as I know, there's no way to turn off the ZOOM icon. Um... Why would you want to zoom throughout the whole movie?

jblackie

to get rid of those bothersome black bands at the top and bottom, maybe?

TaeKwon

Jblackie... You got it. I utilize this feature with my widescreen DVD's to get as much as I want to fit on my screen. My Malata player does well with the xy scaling and even the Toshiba SD3900 had no problem with these annoying ICONs. Guess what...I already have the return authorizaton from Goodguys and this thing is going back. I can tolerate having to key in the hack for the Toshiba. No way can I tolerate the non-removable ICONS.

Heads to anyone else interested in this unit. Also I noticed faint horizontal bands on black images with the Philips 727.

Nothings perfect. I'll stick with the malata until something better comes along. Any other suggestions?

Andy_G

but you'll tolerate a cropped movie?!

EMT

I recently placed an order for a Philips DVD727 from Amazon. Unfortunately I had done so before reading this thread

I must say that the multi-angle icon is extremely annoying. But the player also displays an icon for every single keypress on the remote. Fast foward? You get an icon showing how fast you are fast forwarding. Hit pause, and you get a icon for that too, just in case you couldn't tell by the frozen image on the screen that you are in Pause mode!! It goes on and on. I've been all thru the system menu and can find no way to turn off the display of these incredibly distracting incons. What the heck were the folks at Philips thinking when they came up with this?!

I think the remote kinda sucks too. It doesn't have separate arrow keys and transport keys (i.e. the fast foward and rewind keys are also the right and left arrow keys). If I didn't want a cheap multi-region player, I'd be sending this thing back. I still may and look for another multi-region player.

Breakfast with Girls

Well, you probably won't find much sympathy here.

I love the 727 but have also been bugged by the alternate angle icon. Philips needs to correct this!

Do you generally arrow around selecting things on-screen while the feature is playing?

chucky7

Well, after I sold my Toshiba SD-3900 for about $70 dollars, I went ahead and bought Philips 727. Though I have not experienced the angle icon problem, I did find another benefit of Philips 727. It can output both PAL and NTSC signals so for people who have front projectors that accepts both signals, there is the advantage of additional image resolution for PAL discs, as well as not suffering from less than ideal PAL to NTSC conversion.

Breakfast with Girls

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najarretd will be with you momentarily!

najarretd says, "Thank you for contacting Philips USA Webchat. My name is Devroy. How may I assist you today?"
You say, "Hi. I recently bought a Philips 727 and whenever a movie with alternate angles is on (like foreign films), the alternate angle icon is always present."
You say, "Is there a way to turn that off, or a firmware upgrade coming in the near future?"
najarretd says, "I will be more than happy to assist you with this issue and I would like some information to create a case file . Please may I have your name, zip code, city and telephone number ?"
You say, "I would really rather not receive any marketing materials."
najarretd says, "Ok."
You say, "By the way, the problem is also present with the zoom feature."
najarretd says, "No , there is no way to turn off as the icon is there to show that feature is being used."
You say, "Right, but on movies where there are multiple angles, it's really irritating to have it on almost constantly throughout the movie."
najarretd says, "There is no way to turn that off."
You say, "I guess I'm just suggesting that an upgrade should be made available that allows you the option of having them go away after so many seconds."
najarretd says, "Is there anything else I can help you with today?"
You say, "No, thanks for your help. Please make that suggestion on my behalf."

[As if he'll make the suggestion. I also made my case in the comments section of the after-chat survey]

DVDude!

That's virtually the same idiotic exchange that I had with a Philips person a couple of weeks ago. I doubt it will do any good. Those online chat people are just there to give a false sense of support, IMNSHO.

wakwak007

Well after reading this thread for a couple of weeks and hearing the pro's and con's for both phillips and toshiba, I purchased the phillips, today. Though I can't use the progressive scan nor use video component cables thanks to an older TV ( I'm bummed) and cheaper HT system, I'm enjoying the player. I'm watching Brotherhood of the Wolf ( both because I like it and the vast array of colors) and it appears a better picture than my old 2109 toshiba ( which has done me well these past 4 yrs.) I found another perk...you can change the picture from letterbox to 16x9 w/o using the zoom button and it will resume to the scene where you left off. The pictue still looks good and in some cases seems richer in the 16x9. Thanks for all the opinions..

DVDude!

Cool, wakwak007. I have my old Toshiba 2109 in the bedroom now. Much better picture with the Philips 727 that replaced it in the living room. I, too, cannot use the progressive scan or the component cables (crappy 27" 4:3 TV), but I appreciate the better quality and region free capabilities.

Hmm... Changing from letterbox to 16:9? Why? How? Thanks.

wakwak007

HEY DVDUDE, I'm right behind you! I just finished hooking up the Toshiba to my wife's old TV which is in the bedroom (My first thought what to do with the Tosh when I was thinking of getting a new player). When doing so, it reminded me of christmas when I first hooked it up to play it for the first time ( This TV was the first one we had in our apartment's living room). I thought the quality was such an improvement from video. Of course a week later I bought a new TV for the living room and enjoyed that improvement. Now re-hooking it up its funny because to me its only slightly more of an improvement over video. ( boy, has time changed when you see the light of technology).

What I was mentioning about changes the set up probably is more for people with widescreen Tv's but if you hit menu, than if you see the top tool bar, move to the right until you get to TV setup. Its where you would convert the signals ( PAL-NTSC). Well just after the convertion buttons you can convert your picture and that's how I changed it to 16x9. Now things seemed clearer at times but the picture also seemed like a dream scene whcih bodies and stuff where longer but it was interesting to play around

DVDude!

Thanks for the clarification, wakwak007. I know what you're talking about now. Stretching it will improve the quality, but there's no way I'd watch it like that.

I've only used the Toshiba in the bedroom once since getting the Philips over a month ago. The TV is a 19" 4:3 in the bedroom. If I want to watch a movie that small, I'll use my computer (20").

mattp

Has anyone used their 727 to play anamorphic PAL DVDs on a widescreen TV? I understand it correctly letterboxes ana PAL discs on 4:3 sets, but how about on 16:9 TVs?

Thanks

mrwilson

Yes, they play fine on widescreen sets.

wakwak007

Hey I just wanted to share that I got in the mail my Ed Wood (R2) and just finished watching it..switching to another region wasn't too bad..It actually did not take the first three times. Because I misunderstood about switching video types and changed the player from NSTC to Multi than the codes (9's, etc.) and that wasn't good and than I thought about it too much and switched it to PAL....Please do not switch your player to PAL if you are using it with a NSTC TV. The picture looked like it needed to be re-aligned or descrambled and it is very hard in that state to switch it back to NTSC ( do yourself a favor and don't even try) So about 10 to 20 mintues later (I don't exactly know how long it took but time was a factor since I was on a lunchbreak which I came home from work and my wife was busy getting ready to go to work while asking a lot of questions on why the picture was messed up... so it could've been a tense moment) Once corrected, I did the codes and it worked great, it really is quite easy..thank you all for recommending a multi-region player its fun and the Philips 727 I am quite pleased.

buckee1

I got my Philips 727 in the mail from amazon on yesterday and hooked it up in my bedroom this morning. i must say the I am very pleased with the player and the Region 0 remote hack could not have been easier!
So far I've watched R2 & R4 discs and they both have looked terrific. I'll try R1 later on this evening.

proof

I don't know where else to ask this question so I'll give it a shot here. :P

I have the Toshiba 3900 and so far it's played all the R2 discs that I've thrown at it; however on my HKL discs there appears to be a single, jagged shift up in the middle of the black bars. This happens on both the top and bottom black bars.

It happens on the menu screen for all the HKL Bruce Lee titles I have, but when the feature plays (2.35:1) the jagged shift is not there.

I played The Killer and both the menu and the feature (1.78:1) have the jagged shift; however when I zoomed in, it disappeared.

Any ideas on what might be causing this, and if there's any way to fix it?

mrwilson

Not sure what you mean by 'jagged shift'. On my JVC I can see where only the half of the first top and bottom lines are drawn.

DVDude!

proof: I get this on my region 2 Italian PAL disc of Dellamorte Dellamore (Medusa). It's not just during the menus though; it's throughout the whole movie. It's kind of annoying, but I hadn't mentioned it until now.

Is anyone else experiencing this with Dellamorte Dellamore (Medusa) or any other discs?

renaldow

It's got to do with the PAL/NTSC conversion, and there's no way to get rid of it. Lots of players do this. Chances are it's doing it with the 2.35:1 movies also, but the 'jagged' line is black letterboxing, so you don't see it.

I'm assuming the picture looks fine, it's just the 1 jagged line on top and bottom, right? Try to ignore it, and you won't see it anymore

proof

Yeah the picture is great. Oh well, it's a minor distraction.
Thanks for clearing that up